Ienzo
by Jenna Wilder
Summary: Experimentyness. I'm attempting to develop the characters of Ansem's five apprentices: Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo. Read and review please, make my day!


**A/N: Me again. XD I should probably explain this before you start reading and then yell at me for rambling on with no point. This is another experiment; this time, I'm trying to write about Ansem's apprentices (minus Xehanort... I'm not sure I have enough of a grasp on his character to write him in. Something about Xemnas throws me off.) ** **I'm attempting to decide what these five were like based solely on their Nobodies. Therefore, this is pretty much me going on and on about them, trying to build them around accents and specialities and fun stuff like that. Read and enjoy. And review. Please. **

**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts isn't mine. 'Nuff said.**

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Ienzo has never been one for pleasant formalities.

When introduced, he acknowledges the other party with a slight nod of his head, maybe even a noncommittal shrug that merely says he knows they exist. In reality, he is studying them intensely – scents, mannerisms, speech patterns, common movements – everyone is a puzzle to him, and he is determined to solve those puzzles.

But on the outside, he usually appears bored. This expression is what the other apprentices have decided is "normal" on him, and he rarely shows anything else – it is too much effort to attempt even a smile. Oh, he smiled once, but that was before becoming Ansem's apprentice. Years of working frantically alongside Braig, Dilan, Even, and Aeleus have chilled his warm smile into a cold, uncaring expression.

There is simply too much to think about to smile.

Days filled with exhaustive research, pouring over notes made by Master Ansem, trying to decipher Even's chaotic scribbles and sketches that fill every notebook he owns. Nights spent not sleeping – oh, ever so rarely did he get to rest in his own bed, now that Braig had captured a basic Shadow Heartless to experiment on – spent instead shivering in the subzero lab beside his fellow apprentices, testing and experimenting and writing and falling asleep over one's own work, exhausted to the point of unconsciousness because of nights spent in the lab instead of in bed asleep. Even and Dilan are the worst for this; so often do they put aside eating and sleeping in the name of science that they nearly kill themselves before Master Ansem forces them to stop working.

Ienzo knows better than to disregard his basic needs. He makes sure to sleep occasionally, to eat regular meals, and to avoid overdosing on stimulants such as caffeine. Too often he has seen Braig after his seventh cup of straight black coffee; the dark-haired apprentice, although definitely _awake,_ can rarely concentrate on anything. All the energy that he gains from drinking coffee is usually poured into something destructive, such as bothering the other apprentices.

Today, Ienzo shows only mild irritation as Braig throws a piece of chalk at him. It is another one of those days, with general exasperation all around and the teenaged sharpshooter not helping to ease it at all. Dilan flinches as the chalkboard eraser flies by his head – overdosage of stimulants drastically reduces Braig's ability to aim, Ienzo notes – and Even finally snaps as a carelessly placed cup spills coffee all over his papers when the eraser knocks into it. Aeleus sighs and goes for a cloth to clean it up, trying to patch up the rift between the two so that they can get on with their studies.

Dilan moves his research books over so that he's sitting beside Ienzo instead of Braig. If the sharpshooter were not heavily dosed with stimulants, the two would probably be working together, but as it is, Dilan looks as if he wants to be as far from his companion as possible. Ienzo understands, so he scoots over on the bench to make room for the taller apprentice. Dilan smells of ink, of rain and wind, of agitation, frustration – and most prominently of peppermint.

Every apprentice has their own "flavor", a specific scent that Ienzo has learned to associate with their personalities and to pick out so that he can identify them more easily. Dilan smells of peppermint, and Braig of almond. Aeleus's is chocolate (bittersweet and very dark, Ienzo will always point out); Even's scent is vanilla. Ienzo isn't entirely sure what his own scent is, although Braig often informs him that it's something lemony.

When Braig is finally bored of teasing Even, he turns to the second most likely target: Ienzo himself. It probably has to do with his height; the youngest apprentice is also not surprisingly the shortest. Braig himself stands a good head taller. He stands behind Ienzo (giving Dilan a wide berth) and rests an elbow on his head, leaning as hard as he can in an attempt to disrupt the work that the youngest is doing.

"Hey, lil' dude, what're ya workin' on?" he asks, his heavy accent suggesting a birthplace nowhere near Radiant Garden – more likely in Atlantica, Ienzo suggests to himself, because it speaks of endless seas and sand instead of the pristine sheltered beauty of his own home world. Instead of responding, he glares down at his notes, hoping that the older apprentice will take the hint and remove himself.

He doesn't. Instead, he leans down and snatches at a handful of the yellowed papers, flicking through Ienzo's notes on the Heartless and, by mistake, on the characters of the other apprentices. "What's this?"

Belatedly realizing that the caffeine-high teenager intends to read his character notes aloud, Ienzo reaches up and attempts to retrieve them, only to have Braig skip back out of his reach and read the first few sentences.

" 'Braig: second-youngest, dark hair, gold eyes. Very loyal to his friends. Near-perfect aim that is inhibited by the consumption of caffeine. Sharpshooter, excellent hunter, good at sneaking around. Can manipulate space to some extent – proper development of this could lead to excellent sniping possibilities. Enjoys swimming, singing in the shower, and annoying others to no end.' How'd you know I sing in the shower?"

"Who wouldn't know, with your obnoxious caterwauling?" Even replies coldly, saving Ienzo from taking the effort to say the same. Braig sighs and continues on, knowing that he has the attention of the other four apprentices.

" 'Sleeping patterns: asleep by midnight or 1 AM, awake by 8:30AM unless Master Ansem dictates otherwise. Takes naps during the day when he thinks no one is watching. Eating habits: enjoys instant ramen, black coffee, and sea-salt ice cream.' Dude, this is freaky – how d'you know all this?" Braig demands, shoving the notes in front of Ienzo's nose as if the younger apprentice had Even's terrible eyesight.

"I merely pay attention to the lesser things," Ienzo replies, grabbing at the papers again, only to have them jerked out of the way. He winces and sticks his finger in his mouth, tasting metal as blood trickles from a decent paper cut.

"Jeez, I didn't know that Even likes lavender soap. Ain't that for girls?" laughs Braig as he skims the rest of the notes.

"It most certainly is not!" the blonde apprentice snaps angrily, standing up straight. "Ienzo, what _exactly_ do you have recorded there?"

"Basic facts about all of you, and notes on possible abilities and specialties," Ienzo replies, taking his finger out of his mouth and attempting to rid himself of the awful metallic taste of his own blood. "I did not intend for them to be read aloud."

"Obviously." Aeleus puts a hand on Braig's shoulder to get his attention. Ever the peacemaker, he somehow convinces the sharpshooter to return the notes, sit down, and get back to studying.

Aeleus is a mystery to Ienzo; the young apprentice has often tried to figure him out, but always runs into a rock-solid barrier that he has to chip away at for weeks before learning something else about the quiet redhead. He is surprisingly gentle, for his build – one would expect someone with shoulders that broad to be loud and violent, probably swinging a heavy weapon around and ignoring studies completely – although this is stereotyping, which Ienzo has discovered rarely fits any of the apprentices. Instead, Aeleus is gentle, kind, a very good peacemaker, a lover of all things related to his studies. He enjoys reading obscure old novels, doing complicated chemistry problems with Even, and drinking mint tea. In fact, he is the exact opposite of the stereotype his form suggests.

This knowledge does not stop Braig from occasionally addressing the older apprentice as "musclehead" or other such derogatory terms related to his stature. Ienzo doesn't quite understand it, because Aeleus isn't even that big… but it annoys him, which is probably enough reason for the sharpshooter.

Ienzo sighs inaudibly and returns to watching the Shadow Heartless carefully, noting anything that it does out of the ordinary. From Even's corner of the lab come the occasional explosions and curses that almost inevitably follow the oldest apprentice's failures; Dilan has started quizzing a now-calm Braig, and Aeleus is putting his latest biochemistry theory on the chalkboard. He and Even have been combining their knowledge with the desire to someday create a being that can think and act – a real person, as it were, with a heart of its own. The difficult part seems to be getting the theories right. That, and obtaining materials to synthesize into flesh and blood. After all, a machine that can think and act for itself is not common, but it has been created... Aeleus and Even are pursuing the creation of a human being.

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**A/N: I have no idea why Braig's scent is almond instead of coffee. XD Don't ask.**

**Sorry about the abrupt cutoff there.**** More coming soon, if I ever get around to writing it. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!  
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